Alfie Crooks continued his fine form in front of goal as Villa stormed to a victory at Manchester City in the Barclays U18 Premier League.

A stunning first-half display from Tony McAndrew's team set them on the way to a second victory of 2013.

Crooks, who scored his first goal for the U21s in Monday's win over Blackburn, opened the scoring against City with a header on 17 minutes.

And the goals continued to fly in for Villa, who raced in to a four-goal half-time lead.

Callum Robinson scored from close range on 24 minutes to make it 2-0, before Crooks connected with Jordan Graham's cross to add a third just past the half-hour mark.

A neat finish from Brad Lewis five minutes later made it 4-0 to the boys in claret and blue.

The hosts provided a much sterner test after the break and Nathaniel Oseni pulled one back with a headed strike three minutes after the restart.

Soon after, though, City's task was made harder when forward Brandon Barker saw red for a crunching tackle.

Villa exploited the numerical advantage with substitute Thomas Strain surging through a gap in the defence to score a fifth five minutes from the end.

There was still time for City to pull one back through Olivier Ntcham, who beat keeper Brad Watkins with a powerful drive from outside the box.

VILLA: Watkins, Bateman, Toner, Cowans, Webb, Lewis, Graham, Lyden, Robinson, Calder, Crooks. Subs: Khalid, Hill, O'Brien, Strain.